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Open WebUI has stored XSS in Excel file preview

High severity GitHub Reviewed Published May 5, 2026 in open-webui/open-webui • Updated May 8, 2026

Package

pip open-webui (pip)

Affected versions

<= 0.7.2

Patched versions

0.8.0

Description

Summary

Excel file attachments are previewed in an unsafe way. A crafted XLSX file payload can be used to cause the sheetjs function sheet_to_html to embed an XSS payload into the generated HTML. This is subsequently added to the DOM unsanitized via @html causing the payload to trigger.

Details

The function used to convert XLSX documents to HTML for preview does not perform any input validation or sanitisation for the generated HTML
https://github.com/open-webui/open-webui/blob/a7271532f8a38da46785afcaa7e65f9a45e7d753/src/lib/components/common/FileItemModal.svelte#L120-L133
XLSX attachments are processed by this function, converted to HTML with XLSX.utils.sheet_to_html before ultimately being assigned to the variable excelHtml. Later there is logic that causes this to be assigned directly to the DOM when the preview tab is selected.
https://github.com/open-webui/open-webui/blob/a7271532f8a38da46785afcaa7e65f9a45e7d753/src/lib/components/common/FileItemModal.svelte#L358-L400

PoC

A python script to generate a payload file is as follows:

import xlsxwriter                                                                                                                
                                                                                                                                 
payload = '<img src=x onerror="alert(\'XSS Triggered by XLSX file\')">'                                                          
                                                                                                                             
workbook = xlsxwriter.Workbook('xss_payload.xlsx')                                                                           
worksheet = workbook.add_worksheet()                                                                                         
                                                                                                                             
payload_format = workbook.add_format()                                                                                       
                                                                                                                             
worksheet.write_rich_string('A1',                                                                                            
    'This cell contains a hidden payload: ',                                                                                 
    payload_format, payload                                                                                                  
)                                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                             
worksheet.write('A2', 'This is a safe cell.')                                                                                
worksheet.write('B1', 'Column B')                                                                                            
                                                                                                                             
workbook.close()

Upload the generated file as an attachment to a chat, open the file modal, and click preview. Observe the XSS triggers.
image
This same process can be triggered in shared chats, allowing the payload to be distributed to victims.
image

Impact

Any user can create a weaponised chat that can be shared and subsequently used to target other users.

Low privilege users are at risk of having their session taken over by a payload that reads their token from local storage and exfiltrates it to an attacker controlled server.

Admins are at risk of exposing the server to RCE via same chain described in GHSA-w7xj-8fx7-wfch.

Caveats

The file attachment in the shared chat must be opened and previewed to trigger the vulnerability.

Recommendation

Sanitise the generated HTML with DOMPurify before assigning it to the DOM.

References

@doge-woof doge-woof published to open-webui/open-webui May 5, 2026
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database May 8, 2026
Reviewed May 8, 2026
Last updated May 8, 2026

Severity

High

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
None

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector: More severe the more the remote (logically and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerability.
Attack complexity: More severe for the least complex attacks.
Privileges required: More severe if no privileges are required.
User interaction: More severe when no user interaction is required.
Scope: More severe when a scope change occurs, e.g. one vulnerable component impacts resources in components beyond its security scope.
Confidentiality: More severe when loss of data confidentiality is highest, measuring the level of data access available to an unauthorized user.
Integrity: More severe when loss of data integrity is the highest, measuring the consequence of data modification possible by an unauthorized user.
Availability: More severe when the loss of impacted component availability is highest.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N

EPSS score

Weaknesses

Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')

The product does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes user-controllable input before it is placed in output that is used as a web page that is served to other users. Learn more on MITRE.

CVE ID

CVE-2026-44549

GHSA ID

GHSA-jwf8-pv5p-vhmc

Source code

Credits

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